Driver Rankings for Weekend of May 24, 2009

My rankings are a little late, but I've updated rankings reflecting the races in Monaco, Indy and Charlotte. I've also added a brand new graphic showing the biggest gainers and losers in the week's rankings.

Jenson Button is looking impossible to beat at this point, being nearly 16 points ahead of the new #2, his Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello. The Indy 500 has had the biggest effect on the rankings, with a bulk of the gainers and losers coming from IndyCar. Franchitti went up by three, Castroneves went up four, and Danica Patrick went up seven. Nobody though is close to Jenson Button, who will need several DNFs for anyone to get close to him.



Gainers and Losers

The theme this week for the top gainers are High 500 finishers and Ferrari superstars. Leading the pack is Kimi Raikkonen, up 21 spots from 61st to 40th, followed by 500 runner-up Dan Wheldon (43-24), and Ed Carpenter (67-49). The big losers are mostly guys with bad ends to their 500s (namely, putting it in the wall), led by Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Another factor to remember for Wilson and Hunter-Reay is that they are likely still coming down to earth from their strong starts in St. Petersburg.